Hacienda fans rave at plan for luxury flats

When developers decided to build 130 apartments on the canal-side site of the Hacienda, the Manchester nightclub whose reputation went round the world, they hung on to the name and invited one of the city's leading DJs to play at the launch party for their glossy brochure.

But Dave Haslam, a veteran of the club and author of the definitive history of "Madchester" music, turned them down flat. "Dancing on the grave of the Hacienda was not something I wanted to do."

Manchester clubbers, whose eyes mist over with memories of ecstasy-fuelled nights, say that it is bad enough that Crosby Homes North West are building homes costing up to £433,000 on this site. But to pinch the Hacienda name is sacrilege, and using the slogan "now the party's over, you can come home" drives them to apoplexy.

"However controversial it was, the Hacienda was a cultural asset to Manchester," said Haslam. "It helped bring that sense of civic pride back to Manchester. A block of flats built by Crosby Homes is never going to do that."

David Vincent, who runs the club venue Sankey's Soap in the city, denounced the scheme as tacky and threatened to set up a website to "name and shame" those who buy the apartments.

"These apartments have nothing to do with the Hacienda," he said. "If they had used the original building, then fine. But they didn't - they actually knocked it all down."

But Clare Pearson, sales and marketing manager for Crosby Homes North West and a former Hacienda regular herself, was unrepentant. "The Hacienda is a good name and everyone recognises it," she said. "But we are selling apartments, not a club." The building was knocked down, she said, because it was not structurally sound.

The Hacienda was opened in a former boat showroom in 1982 and by the end of the decade had achieved cult status as the acid house craze took off. It closed five years ago, beaten by financial troubles and drug gangs.

At an end-of-an-era auction, fans queued to buy bricks and bits of the dance floor, and the club's history and myths are celebrated in the film 24 Hour Party People starring Steve Coogan.

The Hacienda name was borrowed from the Situationists, a group of artists and intellectuals founded in 1957 to attack capitalism and define a new model for cities. Critics of the homes scheme say it is ironic that developers are using an anti-capitalist theme to sell modern homes.

Crosby's brochure resembles a twelve inch house music single and quotes from the Situationist Ivan Chtcheglov: "That's all over. You'll never see the hacienda [sic]. It doesn't exist. The hacienda must be built."

The brochure features the former club's distinctive yellow and black colour scheme. It quotes Radio 1 DJ Mark Radcliffe, ("The Hacienda didn't just give people what they wanted, it gave them what they never even dreamed they could have,") and adds: "Today, having run its natural course as the focal point for Manchester's musical culture, the spirit of the Hacienda lives on as it becomes the epicenter [sic] of stylish, luxury living in a vibrant urban environment."

That, claim the critics, is an attempt to link two concepts which are incompatible.

"Everyone is furious," said Luke Bainbridge, editor of City Life, Manchester's listings magazine. "The old Hacienda crew and the Manchester clubbing fraternity are up in arms. That generation was very anti-establishment and felt that with the Hacienda they were experiencing the second summer of love. The marketing of the new apartments is sick. It's like the end of the 60s, when they started selling hippy wigs in Woolies."

Marc Rowlands, a DJ and journalist, described the sales brochure as laughable. "People are bemused that Crosby have got rid of the whole building but are using its history as part of its marketing campaign."

Ms Pearson said: "It wasn't a case of knocking it down and having no feeling for it. There is a lot of nostalgia about the Hacienda and it was a very important part of Manchester's clubbing history. But things move on. Not everything can stand forever. A lot of people who are interested in living at the Hacienda went to the club for years and want to be part of the Hacienda still," she said.

Dave Haslam is unimpressed and will not be buying. "It's shameless," he said. "But they will never take away our memories."

Open and shut

· The Hacienda opened in May 1982, all steel, glass and wood interior. Bernard Manning was on first night bill.

· Early years: live music included Culture Club, Simple Minds, The Smiths, Madonna, New Order, The Happy Mondays and Oasis. The club lost money.

· Late 80s: DJs began playing music from Chicago. House music peaked in 1989, with 1,000 clubbers dancing. A 16-year-old girl died after taking ecstasy.

· 1990s: drug dealers moved in, the club voluntarily closed for three months and improved security. The Flesh gay night was launched and ran to 1996.

· Beaten by cash flow and the drug dealers, the club closed on June 28 1997.